Pad holder for floor polishing machine

ABSTRACT

The invention relates to assemblies for attachment of polishing pads to drive blocks of floor polishing machines and hand tools, the assemblies including flattened metallic plates to which plastic elements are secured, said plastic element including integral pin-like elements having flattened ends for prepositioning the polishing pads relative to the machine or hand tool, whichever the case may be.

United States Patent ()kun [54] PAD HOLDER FOR FLOOR POLISHING MACHINE [72] Inventor: Nathaniel N. Okun, Baltimore, Md.

[7-3] Assignee: The Cello Chemical Company, Baltimore, Md.

[22] Filed: Jan. 22, 1971 [21] Appl. No.: 108,899

[52] US. Cl. ..300/2I, 15/231, 29/428 [51] Int. Cl. ..A471 11/40 [58] Field of Search..l5/230.12, 187,230.19, 230.17, 15/231, 210, 228, 230, 246, 257, 145, 146,

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,302,232 2/1967 Wasilofi et al 15123017 1 51 Aug. 15, 1972 3,031,730 5/1962 Morin ..15/1s7x 3,527,001 9/1970 Kleemeieretal...l5/230.l7X

Primary Examiner-Leon G. Machlin Attorney-Edwin E. Greigg [57] ABSTRACT The invention relates to assemblies for attachment of polishing pads to drive blocks of floor polishing machines and hand tools, the assemblies including flattened metallic plates to which plastic elements are secured, said plastic element including integral pinlike elements having flattened ends for pre-positioning the polishing pads relative to the machine or hand tool, whichever the case may be.

4 Claims, 5 Drawing Figures BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to improvements in floor polishing machines and more particularly pertains to the means by which the polishing pad is associated with the drive block of the polishing machine.

Commercial polishing machines in particular are expensive and heretofore no one has concerned himself with trying to provide attachments therefor which would be conducive to lowering the cost of the operation of such machines by the customer, at least not until this concept was reduced to practice.

It is known to those skilled in the construction of these machines, as well as by those familiar with the operation thereof, that the brushes and pads used therewith are usually secured to the rotary driving mechanism by metallic clasps, wing bolts, snap fasteners and other even more expensive devices. By way of illustration, attention of the reader is invited to the patents of Finnell U.S. Pat. No. 1,881,432 issued Oct. 11, 1932 and U.S. Pat. No. 1,933,846 issued Nov. 7, 1933, Zemke et al., U.S. Pat. No. 3,518,709 issued July 7, 1970 and Nilsson et al., U.S. Pat. No. 2,960,706 issued all of which relate to various types of brush and pad assemblies for use with polishing and cleaning machines.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a simplified means by which the polishing pad may be securely mounted on and removed from the rotatable drive block of the floor polishing machine.

The principal object of the invention is the provision of a relatively thin yet structurally sturdy metallic plate member having a predetermined configuration which forms the carrier member for the pad holder and is interposed between the pad holder and the drive block of the machine.

Another object of the invention is to provide a plastic wafer-like member having one planar surface adapted to be secured to the metallic plate member with the opposite surface of said plastic wafer including integral offstanding pin-like members, the extremities of each of which are flattened by the application of heat thereto.

Still another object of the invention is to provide an adhesive capable of securely fastening the plastic pad holder element to the metallic plate member.

Yet another object of the invention is to incorporate the teaching described above into a hand tool assembly.

The invention will be better understood, as well as further objects and advantages will become more apparent, from the ensuing detailed specification of the embodiments taken in conjunction with the drawing.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the drive block for attachment to a floor polishing machine disclosing the principal object of the invention;

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view on line 22 of FIG.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged fragmentary view in detail of the pad holder showing the deformed pins in bottom elevation;

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary cross-sectional view of the invention showing the flattened pins and the pressure plate for upsetting the ends thereof; and

FIG. 5 is a view of an embodiment of the invention in a hand tool which has incorporated therein the teaching of this invention.

DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS Turning now to the drawing, the locking mechanism denoted 10 is of relatively conventional design and is only illustrated to show one means by which the carrier for the floor polishing elements is associated with the rotary drive block of the machine. The locking mechanism is perforated, as shown at 11, and secured by means of screws 12 to a collar 13, the lower end portion of which includes a flange l4, perforated as at 15, and thereby adapted to receive one planar surface of the relatively thin sturdy metallic annulus 16. The opposite planar surface of the metallic annulus, denoted at 17, in FIG. 2 is arranged to receive the smooth surface 18 of the polyethylene annulus 19, the opposite surface of said annulus being provided with a multiplicity of integral pin-like elements 20 which offstand normal to the backing surface 21.

The fragmentary views in FIGS. 3 and 4 show the plastic body 21 with the flattened pins 22 projecting therefrom in bottom elevation and cross section, respectively.

The pin-like members 20, as illustrated, are provided with flattened end portions 22 and the deformation or upsetting of each of these extremities is accomplished simultaneously by bringing them into pressure contact with a heated plate 23 having a smooth flat surface, the area of which is at least commensurate with the overall area of the polyethylene annulus.

It is considered to be within the concept of this invention to either deform the pins of the plastic annulus manually or automatically. Various ways of achieving the flattening of the integral pins, either before the plastic annulus is secured to the metallic annulus or thereafter, will occur to those skilled in the art, e.g., the plastic annuli may be fed in seriatum by means of one horizontal flight of an endless conveyor past a heating means positioned thereabove. It will also be apparent that where it is desired to produce the barbed polyethylene annuli in a smaller quantity, and manually, a structure can be provided which includes a platform including suitable foot-operated linkage and a heating element mounted rigidly thereabove so that an operator may merely place an annuli with its pins disposed upwardly onto the platform, press a treadle, thereby lifting the annuli into contact with the heater. Upon lowering the platform, the now flattened element may be removed and another such operation may be performed.

The foregoing is by no means limitative but merely representative of manifold ways which may be resorted to for simultaneously deforming or upsetting the integral polyethylene pins.

As shown in FIG. 2, metallic plate 16, to which the polyethylene annulus is suitably adhered, is provided at its respective assembled perimeter with a vinyl bumper 24, formed by a rebent peripheral portion of said polyethylene annulus, which portion is snapped-on to the peripheral edge of said metal annulus when said plastic annulus is being applied to one of the adhesivecoated surfaces of the metal annulus. This bumper, as will be apparent, serves the purpose of protecting the raw edges of the annuli after assembly with the machine from being brought into damaging contact with an exposed painted or other surface which requires protection while the machine is in operation.

Turning now to FIG. 5, there is shown a hand tool 30, one surface of which is provided with a suitable handle receiving means 31, with a portion of the handle shown at 32. in this embodiment of the invention the handle receiving means is suitably secured to a small rigid rectangular plate which may be metal or otherwise, and

to the opposite surface thereof there is suitably cemented the smooth surface of a complementally formed and flattened pin polyethylene plate, to the pins of which suitable scrubbing pads may be applied and removed therefrom, all of which is believed to be clear from the foregoing discussion relative to the manner in which polishing pads are assembled with rotary machines. A device of this type is particularly useful and supplementary to the machine previously described, for with such a device one can clean and polish in corners which are not otherwise accessible with the machine. It is believed other advantages will occur to those who familiarize themselves with the hand tool, for many cleaning and polishing operations can be conducted by use of the device with or without the use of a handle.

What is claimed is:

l. The improved method of assembling a floor polishing element for a floor polishing machine, comprising the steps of:

providing a metal annulus having oppositely disposed smooth planar surfaces and a peripheral edge portion,

applying a cement uniformly to one of said metal surfaces, securing to said cement while still tacky the first surface of a thin plastic body which is flat and uniform, said plastic body having a peripheral rebent portion for frictional engagement with the peripheral edge of said annulus, the second surface of said body including a multiplicity of oifstanding relatively thin pin-like members, and

thereafter uniformly upsetting the terminal end por tions of the offstanding pin-like members normal to their length by application of heat and pressure thereto to form flattened ends.

2. The improved method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the heat and pressure application is achieved by a flattened plate element.

3. The improved method as claimed in claim 2, wherein the flattened plate element is electrically heated.

4. The improved method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the upsetting is achieved by advancing the annuli in seriatim past a heating means. 

1. The improved method of assembling a floor polishing element for a floor polishing machine, comprising the steps of: providing a metal annulus having oppositely disposed smooth planar surfaces and a peripheral edge portion, applying a cement uniformly to one of said metal surfaces, securing to said cement while still tacky the first surface of a thin plastic body which is flat and uniform, said plastic body having a peripheral rebent portion for frictional engagement with the peripheral edge of said annulus, the second surface of said body including a multiplicity of offstanding relatively thin pin-like members, and thereafter uniformly upsetting the terminal end portions of the offstanding pin-like members normal to their length by application of heat and pressure thereto to form flattened ends.
 2. The improved method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the heat and pressure application is achieved by a flattened plate element.
 3. The improved method as claimed in claim 2, wherein the flattened plate element is electrically heated.
 4. The improved method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the upsetting is achieved by advancing the annuli in seriatim past a heating means. 